


Beast

by Hardwood_Studios



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alpha Uchiha Sasuke, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood and Violence, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Uzumaki Naruto, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Sex, Possessive Uchiha Sasuke, True Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:01:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26454574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hardwood_Studios/pseuds/Hardwood_Studios
Summary: Sasuke's first heat is fast approaching, but arrives earlier than he expected. Naruto, the undisclosed object of his affections, happens to be just close enough to suffer the brunt of it.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 14
Kudos: 601





	Beast

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, all. So this is something I started writing a really, really long time ago, but abandoned, as I have a tendency to do. I decided to finally finish Shippuden, so I picked it back up. It is a stand alone story, but I'd be willing to do a second part if it gets a good enough response. The Alpha/Omega trope is one of my favorites across the board, and I figured Naruto and Sasuke were perfect to try my hand at it. There's absolutely no m-preg, however, as that is not a trope I care for. This story is basically just a ton of smut, with a tiny bit of plot and conflict sprinkled one. I also haven't written a legitimate sex scene in awhile, so hopefully it turned out okay. 
> 
> Enjoy!

A Sunday afternoon never demanded much of him. Naruto stretched his limbs to their limits, arching off the sun--warmed boulder like a kitten freshly roused. Tapered, rusty red ears twitched lazily between flaxen shocks of hair. His tail, fluffy and fire bright in the sunshine, slapped the rock every few seconds. The shallow brook bubbling around his ankles was abounding with aquatic life, and Naruto toyed with the idea of snatching up some fish for lunch. His stomach gurgled at the thought. 

A shadow suddenly fell over him, the air taking on an unmistakable chill. “Dobe.” An even voice intoned from somewhere above. Unhurried, Naruto cracked a single eye. Six plus feet of panther demon filled his halved vision. Sasuke’s strong arms were crossed in perpetual judgement, his silk haori falling open across a pale chest. Naruto bit his lip at the sight and nearly drew blood from the supple flesh. “You’re blocking my light.” It came out whinier than intended. Sasuke scoffed. The sleek, inky length of his tail kicked into an agitated swing. He poked a bare toe into the tri--scarred side of Naruto’s face, sparing little regard to the kitsune’s comfort. “Get up, you louse.”

Feeling mischievous, as was the nature of any proper fox, he made a grab for Sasuke’s leg with every intention of yanking him off balance. The nimble bastard managed to turn his sudden plunge into a graceful flip, hardly leaving a ripple in the water where he landed. He smirked, the very smirk he knew would send Naruto into a spitting, howling rage. True to character, Naruto leapt from his perch with a ragged cry. Sasuke could’ve dodged the furious charge, but found he didn’t want to. They met the water in a mess of tangled legs and arms, not that either seemed to mind. They tousled like their youth had never ended. In the end, what little clothing they had on was soaked through. Given his physical advantages gifted by nature, Sasuke was the unsurprising victor. 

Chest heaving, Naruto exclaimed between laughing breaths, “you are such a bastard!” Beads of water trapped between tawny lashes caught bits of the sun and shone like jewels. Flashes of blue, blue eyes between heaves of laughter, and Sasuke couldn’t breathe. Moments later found them reclined on the grassy bank, attempting to dry their waterlogged garments via sunshine and patience. Their arms nearly touched and tails were dangerously close to twining. Both seemed lost in thought. Naruto snuck a careful glance at Sasuke.

They had both recently turned sixteen, and were thus on the cusp of first heat. Naruto was scared, terrified even, for what a heat might bring. There was no guarantee either of them would take a mate this first go around, but Sasuke belonged to a rather prestigious clan. He was one of two heirs, in fact. Naruto wondered if they had arranged some grandiose meet and greet for Sasuke to find a potential mate. His heart squirmed at the thought, but he refused to examine why. Sasuke had been like a brother to him all throughout their childhood, his best friend and partner in tomfoolery. 

Then they grew up, and mother nature made it clear who was the alpha between them. Sasuke shot up like a weed and filled out in all the best places. Muscle roiled through him for days, and Naruto seemed to notice whenever a new one would appear. He, on the other hand, did little changing. Aside from squeezing out a couple extra inches of height, he remained as lithe and willowy as ever. Jiraiya, the toad sage responsible for his upbringing, mentioned his changing scent. Apparently the smells emanating from him were something of a siren call to matured alpha creatures. Just as he had several times before, Naruto wondered if Sasuke noticed or enjoyed his ‘new’ smell. Feeling brave, he cleared his throat and asked, “do I smell different lately?” 

Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto, hair catching on the tall grass, and raised a neat brow. “I haven’t noticed.” He lied. Oh, he’d noticed. He noticed every time they were together, and continued to notice long minutes after they departed company. That accursed scent did things to him he absolutely refused to acknowledge. His tongue could swim in the excess saliva filling his mouth. Distracted by his own heated musings, he didn’t catch the deeply wounded look on his friend’s face. Naruto quickly composed himself, wiping the hurt off his expressive face. “So...do you think you’ll take a mate this year?” 

Sasuke was obviously put off by this line of questioning. “Are you?” He countered. The truth of it was, Sasuke abhorred the idea of taking a mate. The mere thought of bedding and marking some random submissive in the throes of heat, only to wake up and find he had to share the rest of his life with a stranger, turned his stomach. The one he actually wanted, well, that was out of the question. His family would never accept such a “selfish” decision; his personal happiness had no place in the midst of clan politics. However, the idea of another alpha sniffing around Naruto nearly sent him into a blood rage. The kitsune in question hummed thoughtfully. “Not if I can avoid it.” 

Sasuke had to bite back a purr. It was for the best if Naruto opted out of mating, during this first heat and all others, as it might cause tension in their relationship were Sasuke to slaughter any interested parties. The primal parts of him shivered with delight. He almost wanted someone to try; he’d sink his jaws into their throat--meat and rip their jugular out while Naruto watched, the blood of a potential suitor spraying them both -- Sasuke blinked dazedly. His thoughts had devolved into violent fantasies more often than not the past couple weeks. He wasn’t a fool, he knew his heat was whispering around the corner. Unaware of the turmoil ballooning up inside his stoic companion, Naruto carried on. “I mean, it’s different for you.” 

He sighed and folded his hands behind his head. “You’re an alpha, you’re in charge. You don’t have to worry about whether or not your mate might hurt you. It would be nice to get to know someone before I succumb to my heat, but the reality is, I’ll probably end up mated to a complete stranger. Anyone could just...come along and take advantage, you know? I could get stuck with a total asshole who treats me like garbage.” Frustration cracked his voice in several places. 

“I would kill them.” Sasuke said plainly. 

Naruto snorted. “Thanks, that’s really...” His half--hearted jibe lost all steam when he saw red bleeding into Sasuke’s dark, calm eyes. They held each other’s gaze for some time, both aware of the tension filling up all the cracks and crevices between them. Naruto swallowed heavily and Sasuke’s hot gaze snapped down to track the subtle movement. The spell was finally broken, and Naruto was the first to look away. Sasuke followed suit seconds later. The silence was no longer easy and companionable; it was now loaded with declarations gone unsaid. Once again losing themselves in their individual musings, it wasn’t long before sleep crept over the haunted pair. 

When Naruto stirred from his impromptu nap, it was to a host of new and decidedly pleasant sensations. He groaned and made to roll on his side, but something warm and heavy kept him pinned. A soft, wispy material whispered over the sensitive skin of his face and neck, and the fleshy part of his throat was caught in a sharp, wet vice. Gentle vibrations rumbled through his trapped body, produced by whatever had made itself comfortable atop him. It took a lot, but his eyes creaked open, crusty bits still littering his lashes. Any sleepiness that remained was immediately snuffed out by sheer panic. 

Sasuke was plastered tightly to his front, like he believed they might eventually fuse if left that way. His face was nestled in the satiny crook where shoulder met neck, his mouth working insistently at the soft meat there. He was...growling? Purring? Whatever the sound, it was like thunder in Naruto’s ears. “S-Sasuke...?” He whispered. He could do little more than guess at what had gotten into his friend, and nothing he came up with was comforting. Sasuke stilled, and it was a dangerous stillness that had Naruto holding his breath. The panther drew his head from its saliva--glazed harbor. Naruto choked on the little air left in his lungs; his heart felt like it had been dropped into a yawning canyon. 

No humanity remained in that face. His eyes were the red of a bloody dusk, the telltale tomae of his clan swirling erratically around dilated pupils. With lips pulled back into a harsh snarl, Naruto could easily make out fangs longer than they should be. It was around that time Naruto felt the fever rolling off his body -- Sasuke was about ten degrees too hot. With no warning to spare them, he’d gone into his first heat. Fear throttled a whimper from his throat. It was a novel experience for Naruto, to see so much unabashed emotion twist across his normally impassive face. 

Sasuke lowered his mouth back to the ugly bruising he’d left at the base of Naruto’s throat and began laving it with long, flat strokes of his tongue. He was running on pure instinct and must have thought Naruto was hurting from his previous ministrations. Gasping, Naruto sank claw--tipped fingers into Sasuke’s naked shoulders with every intention of pushing him away. “Sa-Sasuke, this isnt--Ah!--this isn’t what you want!” He prayed his words might pierce the lusty fog holding Sasuke’s humanity hostage. Quite the opposite, Sasuke verbalized his pleasure at Naruto’s touch with a powerful growl. His yukata was quickly reduced to strips of raggedy fabric. Orange and tacky it may have been, but Naruto still mourned its loss between bouts of hysteria. 

He needed to put a stop to this. Sasuke didn’t want this, didn’t want Naruto as a lifemate. All he wanted was a living, submissive body to rut into. Naruto might want more from their relationship, but he refused to take advantage of this situation. Their friendship meant too much. They’d be stuck together, and Sasuke would surely hate him for it. He would need a serious distraction to make a successful getaway, but --

Naruto swallowed a scream. Sasuke brought their groins together and started up a brutal, mindless regimen of rutting and grinding. His arms were shackled around Naruto, forcing him into a dramatic arch, and his mouth gnawed ceaselessly at the kit like he were a snack. A stab of feverish heat pulsed to life in his core. The force of it was enough to knock the brains from his skull. A needy mewl ripped free of his gullet, and in some distant place, Naruto was horrified to know he could make such sounds. He felt fevered, like his insides were cooking. His eyes took on a moony sheen. Of its own accord, his hips frantically rose to meet Sasuke’s savage rhythm. All too late did Naruto realize what was happening inside him. 

His heat had started prematurely. His body was reacting on a chemical level to Sasuke. If their situation was already bad, it was completely hopeless now. ‘No, no, no!’ He repeated in the disarray of his mind. Perhaps if he screamed the word in his head enough times, it would shut the world down. It was taking all he had to string together a semi--coherent thought. While nowhere close to the zenith of his heat, when the hindbrain had seized total control, focus was already challenging to maintain. The impassioned onslaught from the object of his secret affections wasn’t helping matters. He needed to focus, focus, focus, but fuck! He was burning alive and Sasuke’s touch was like aloe, ice water, and everything good. 

It would be so easy to give in, to let instinct take over and become just as empty--headed and frantic as Sasuke. It grew sticky and damp between his thighs within mere minutes of Sasuke’s efforts, and Naruto grit his teeth at the awkward sensation. For fuck’s sake, he was actually leaking. Sasuke’s response to his slick was scary in its intensity. With a fang--gnashing roar, he snatched the underside of Naruto’s knees and bent him almost in half. Spittle dribbled uncontrollably over the harsh jut of his chin and down the strong column of his neck. Naruto knew if he didn’t make a move in the next couple seconds, his instincts would take complete control. He couldn’t help but respond physically to Sasuke’s displays of feral dominance; his submissive nature called for this very attention. 

Summoning every particle of concentration left in his wrecked head, he used a bit of fox magic to substitute his real body with a comical imitation of himself. It was floppy and reminiscent of a balloon animal, needless to say Sasuke noticed immediately. Naruto didn’t stay to watch the bomb go off. He had the slight advantage of a head start, but knew it wouldn’t be enough to save him. Sasuke was fast and motivated. On all fours, he tore through the underbrush at breakneck speed. A monstrous bellow shook the woods at his back, scaring a flock of birds from their perch. Naruto almost mistook their frantic flapping for his heart, the organ smashing about wildly in his chest. He couldn’t outrun his friend, no, he needed to hide. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hide his pungent scent. 

Some benevolent deity must have pitied him, because it was then his ears perked at the sound of rushing water. If it was deep enough, the water would mask his presence. His ears twitched frantically between shocks of corn--yellow hair as he followed them through the clingy underbrush. The occasional bellow or loud snarl from a not--distant--enough Sasuke had anxiety fisting his heart in its icy palm. When he crashed onto the muddy riverbank, he was delighted to see how deep and wide the stream reached. He wasted no time plunging into the water warmed by summer sun, wading until he was covered up to his top lip. He hid the rest of himself under some mossy growth, pressed up against the side of a boulder covered in the damp plant. He clung to the side of it as best he could for stability against the current. 

It wasn’t long before Sasuke tore into sight, his appearance terrifying and thrilling. While Naruto genuinely wanted to remain hidden and make his escape, there was a part of him that delighted in the chase. It was a dark, passionate twisting of their childhood games, where Naruto hid and Sasuke sought. When they were still only kits, Naruto would feel a thrill in his gut as Sasuke got closer and closer to his hiding spot. He always wanted Sasuke to find him, it excited him for some reason to get caught by his friend. He felt the same way now, except this time he knew what he wanted to happen when Sasuke found him. He wanted to be made to submit, he wanted to be claimed. Fighting his instincts in that moment took more willpower than he knew he possessed. Using his last reserves of fox magic, he conjured an illusion of himself escaping into the forest across the bank. 

Too far gone to see through the obvious trick, Sasuke took chase after the ghost. Naruto remained in the water until he could no longer hear Sasuke trashing the land in a fit of blood--rage, at least ten more minutes. When he finally emerged from the stream, soaked to the bone but still so hot, the sky was darkening with red and purple, like a big bruise. He needed to get home to Jiraiya, he couldn’t be out like this. But his brain was in a fog that thickened by the second. Naruto could do little more than figure out how to put one foot in front of the other without crumbling to his knees. He set off in a direction that looked promising. It wasn’t long before he was crawling under the light of the moon. He dragged his sweating, aching body through the dirt until a big oak was cradling him in her roots. He was completely naked by that point, all the tatters of his yukata having fallen from his body long ago. 

His eyes were glazed like lakes frozen over in winter. Dehydration was inevitable, as sweat beaded from every pore and slick formed a puddle under him. He felt unbearably empty. He wanted Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasu--

A low growl rolled through the clearing. Naruto’s body tightened and shrunk in on itself. He whipped his head around wildly like a doe that’s heard autumn grass crunching under a hunter’s boot. He scanned the darkness for danger, but every felled tree--branch and cropping of weeds looked like a monster to his swollen brain. Only when he spied a pair of eyes, golden pits catching on moonlight, devouring him from the shadows did Naruto rethink his opinion on monsters. He whimpered, and the monster must have liked his fearful noises. It crept from the shadows on all fours, massive paws smothering the grass with every step. It was a transformed wolf demon, but no one Naruto recognized. The wolf pushed well into his space, forcing the sensitive skin of his back against the unforgiving bark. He whined high in his throat at the uncomfortable feeling, and the wolf must’ve liked this sound too. 

In their next breath, the cold snout pressed to his scarred cheek was replaced with warm, human lips. “Are you in pain, little kit?” The voice was deep and full of promise. At that point, those promises rang pleasant to Naruto. Reason was totally gone to him. He pressed himself fully against the hot, hard body at his front, begging for all manner of things with his writhing and desperate bucking. The wolf responded in kind, nuzzling close with a delighted growl and sliding big palms over damp skin. “I can make the pain stop, is that something you’d want?” 

Naruto was in so much pain, and that sounded so good. He mewled brokenly, working his lower half against the ground in a fruitless bid for relief. Apparently all the affirmation he needed, as Naruto was suddenly seated in a strong lap. His thighs slotted neatly against muscled hips. Arms came around him like a steel trap, holding Naruto hostage against a broad chest. The wolf’s imposing length was a very real, firm presence at his entrance, and Naruto almost lost it. He was seconds away from impaling himself on a stranger’s cock, mindless and desperate to make the empty feeling stop. The wolf in human skin held him at bay. He was reveling in the kit’s pain and delirium, and teasingly rubbed the head of his cock against Naruto’s loose, soaking pucker. “Not so fast.” He growled. “You need to prove to me that you really want it, sweet kit. Show me what a little whore you are.”

Naruto actually burst into tears. The sounds he made were pitiful and inhuman, and only fueled the cruel lust of his captor. He struggled against the hands holding him still in an effort to fill himself. Just as the wolf thought to finally let it happen, sating himself and robbing Naruto of a normal mating or loving lifemate, the cavalry arrived. A hard knock left the wolf incapacitated. He folded forward and almost crushed the kit in his lap, if not for familiar hands snatching Naruto into safety. Naruto was too far gone to know or appreciate it, but Jiraiya had come to his rescue in the nick of time. He yowled, his tail -- damp with slick and dirtied with forest debris -- whipping furiously in all directions. If Jiraiya was not so old or suffering the broken bond of a widower, he too might have fallen prey to the pungent scents rolling off his charge. It was still hard to tolerate, but not unbearable. 

Jiraiya cradled the frantic kit to his chest, ignoring the feverish heat radiating from his flushed skin and the slick soaking through the sleeve of his haori. “Naruto! You need to snap out of it!” He gave the small body a shake, to no avail. Naruto looked up at him with glazed, teary eyes and could only sob. “How in the world...?” He muttered, shock and confusion coloring him. Naruto wasn’t set to go into heat for a couple weeks yet, so how...? He would have to seek answers at a later time, as tending to Naruto in his moment of need was top priority now. He would need to bring the fever down and get plenty of fluids in his system, lest dehydration become a real issue. He bundled up his precious cargo and set off for their mountain dwelling, hastening his pace with every pained and miserable noise Naruto made. 

\-- chapter II --

Itachi found his younger brother in the throes of a heat--colored rampage. He felt many things, though surprise wasn’t one of them. He’d been smelling heat on Sasuke for about two weeks, the unpleasant scent growing stronger with every day that passed. His brother had undergone a complete transformation, unable to stop his inner animal from coming out. Their clan’s kekkei genkai swirled wildly in the feral eyes of Sasuke’s panther form, and his lips were pulled back over bared fangs in a hateful snarl. The forest around him was badly damaged; trees uprooted and gouged out, earth upturned and devastated. He roared with every swipe of his claws, taking out all his animosity on the landscape. Itachi clucked his tongue at the silly display and almost rolled his eyes. He wasn’t entirely sure what had pushed Sasuke over the edge, but he did have a few working theories. 

With a barely there sigh, Itachi shifted into his own panther form -- his second most natural state of being. He was still a good bit larger than Sasuke in this state, but he could tell it wouldn’t be long before Sasuke’s stature caught up to his own. Deep down, he was proud of the progress his foolish brother had made. Sasuke took notice of him then; he was quite hard to ignore like this. Blinded by heat rage, Sasuke charged him with intent to kill. Itachi would have laughed at the attempt if he wasn’t a man of dignity. Dodging the sloppy assault, Itachi snatched a mouthful of scruff in his jaws and took Sasuke to the dirt. They engaged in a quick but brutal scrap for dominance, drawing blood from each other and destroying even more of the forest. 

Itachi was victorious in the end. He was able to force Sasuke back into his human shell with a meaningful flash of his own sharingan, but the extent of Sasuke’s heat was still prevalent in his flush and stench. His chest heaved for breath, and one name was hot on his chapped lips. “Naruto!” He snarled, eyes still hazy and wild. Itachi raised both brows in clear surprise, but the more he thought about it, the less surprised he became. If anyone was going to set off Sasuke’s heat, it would be Naruto. Sasuke has carried a torch for the little fox since they shared a crib and bottle so many years ago, and Itachi felt safe in assuming the feeling was mutual. Neither were as subtle as they like to think. 

He needed to restore a little sanity to his brother, not that it would erase the heat throes he was experiencing. It would make his presence a little more tolerable, however. Forcing Sasuke to make direct eye contact with him, he allowed the tomae in his eyes to spin. “Sasuke, calm yourself.” He commanded. It took a moment, but the hysterical shine in Sasuke’s own eyes cleared away. His face relaxed out of its former snarl, until he just looked tired and confused. He panted, still very much affected by the changes his body was undergoing. “Ita...chi...?” He croaked. “What...?” He looked around the clearing they’d thoroughly wrecked, then down at himself. He groaned through gritted teeth, pain twisting his features up again. 

“Ugh, why do I...feel this way?” 

“You’ve gone into your first heat, little brother. We need to go.” 

Sasuke glared at him through sweaty flops of hair. Confusion fueled his frustration and anger. “My heat? How? I...” He couldn’t finish his broken line of questioning, folding in half and wrapping both arms around his overheating core. His sex remained stiff and full of blood; the longer it remained at attention the more painful it would get. “Fuck!” He snarled, red trickling into the blacks of his irises and claws leaving small holes in his skin. Itachi frowned in slight worry. It was unlikely Sasuke would get through this first heat without taking a mate, as severely as he was feeling it. Before Itachi could suggest they leave, again, Sasuke grew still and quiet. A sharp gasp left him.

He stood, worry and fear plain across his face. He was unable to maintain any composure or keep from openly expressing himself while in heat. Itachi found it a little distasteful, but no one remains cool and collected in the middle of a mating cycle -- especially not their first. “Naruto.” His eyes were fully red with their clan doujutsu. Itachi gave in to the urge this time and allowed himself a small, discreet eye--roll. “You can’t see Naruto right now, you’d probably--”

“No!” Sasuke glared at him. “I was with him! I was...I fell asleep, I think...” He gripped his hair and yanked in obvious distress. “What if I -- ?” 

Itachi frowned deeply. Now, that sounded like a potential problem. If Sasuke remembered being with Naruto just before going into heat, there was no telling what sort of liberties he’d taken with the little kit. Whatever happened between them, it must not have gone according to plan for Sasuke to be tearing up so much of the forest. Itachi grabbed Sasuke forcefully by the shoulders. “I know you’re worried about Naruto, but you need to go home, now. Once I know you’re safe in the compound, I will go find the kit and make sure he’s in good condition.” His answer, meant to be a comforting one, only filled Sasuke with rage. 

“Stay away!” He roared, unable to shake the thought of his brother as a potential rival. He wouldn’t be tricked or undermined, and he wouldn’t allow a rival male near his mate. Overwhelmed by such conspiracies, Sasuke made to charge his older brother a second time. Violence colored his sharingan an unhealthy shade. Itachi sighed, a deep thing that started in his diaphragm and left his mouth in a violent expulsion. He promptly put Sasuke back under with a decisive blow to the temple. Slinging the younger demon over his shoulder like a sack of something heavy and useless, he made haste for the compound they shared with family. Once he knew his brother was sedated and kept under strict watch, he’d seek out the little kit at the root of his current troubles. 

Their return to the compound was met with panic and near hysterics. The stench of Sasuke’s heat had reached the grounds a good half hour before they stepped foot over the threshold of the main house. Mikoto and Fugaku met them, their expressions vastly different but concern prevalent in both. “What happened?” Fugaku barked, whilst Mikoto fussed over her youngest son’s limp body. She pressed her cheek to his sweaty forehead and frowned worriedly. “He’s burning up! Itachi, how did he get this way?” Faced with his parents’ frantic questions and probing eyes, Itachi decided to lie. He wasn’t sure how his parents would react to hearing Naruto had set off Sasuke’s heat. They would find out soon enough; Sasuke would make it more than known upon waking. “I’m not sure. I found him in the middle of the woods, fully transformed. He was completely out of it. Perhaps it was just his time?” He offered. 

He passed his ailing brother off to their father. The older man grunted a little at the substantial weight of his adult son, but otherwise kept a firm and severe scowl. “I have business in regards to Sasuke’s situation. Please see to it that he’s kept safe, he should not be left unsupervised until he takes a mate.” 

“What business could possibly be so important right now?” His father asked, almost spitting the words. Mikoto had a look like she agreed with her husband, but would never voice it to her eldest so rudely. Itachi turned on a swift heel, tossing his hand in a casual wave. “I’ll be back sometime past noon tomorrow.” 

Naruto and his eccentric caretaker dwelled close to the peak of Mount Myoboku. Even fully transformed and traveling at top speed, it still took him the better part of five hours to reach their abode. They lived in a modest cottage surrounded by lily pads the size of trees and toads bigger than bears. An interesting environment for a fox kit to mature in, though not knowing anything of his real parents or lineage never put a damper on his mood. His father figure, Jiraiya, showered him with enough love and guidance that he was never wanting. Itachi had many fond memories of Naruto and Sasuke as they matured, toddling around together and causing him all sorts of welcome trouble. The more he reflected on the past, the more worry he felt. Naruto had been in his life just as long as Sasuke, and the kit was extremely likeable by nature. Itachi’s heart wasn’t actually made of ice, so of course he’d grown to care for the cheeky blond character. With that thought in mind, he allowed his body to shift into its animal state. 

He ripped through familiar groves and thickets, stopping only to investigate areas heavy with alarming scents. An intimate clearing cut through with a shallow brook gave him reason to pause. He snuffled through the tall grass with increasing urgency. He recognized this area as one Sasuke and Naruto liked to play in as children, becoming more of a retreat for them in their adolescent and teen years. The air was still thick with heat, but not only Sasuke’s. His blood ran cold upon picking up the unmistakable scent of Naruto’s maturity. It wasn’t as overwhelming as Sasuke’s, which meant Naruto had only been in heat a minute or two before leaving the area. Itachi followed the heady scent, just as his younger brother had earlier in the day. It stopped further upstream, where the brook widened into a river. 

Naruto’s scent vanished at the riverbank, meaning he’d climbed into the water to avoid detection by Sasuke. This confused Itachi, for he knew the feelings of attraction and more were mutual between the two. Why did Naruto run away? He continued upstream, towards Mount Myoboku, until Naruto’s scent inevitably reemerged. The thick of his heat was smeared across treebark and mixed with the dirt. The earth was disturbed in some places, indicating Naruto had collapsed to his knees and attempted to crawl. Itachi snarled upon scenting an unfamiliar male enter the area. The scent mingled with Naruto’s; it was heaviest in the roots of a big tree. 

While Itachi wasn’t interested in Naruto as a mate, he cared for the kit a great deal. A strange alpha happening upon him, alone and overwhelmed by his first heat, spelled nothing but trouble. Continuing his brief investigation, Itachi felt relief grip his heart upon catching Jiraiya’s odd but unique scent. Like stale marsh water and cheap tobacco, it meant deliverance had come for Naruto before a forced mating could take place. Satisfied that Naruto’s life and chastity remained intact, he broke into a hard run. The moon was a ghoulish beacon overhead, its dim light spearing through the treetops. Itachi was little more than a shadow whispering through the quiet of the woods, the only sound made were his paws beating the ground. He would arrive on Jiraiya’s doorstep just before the break of dawn if he kept this pace. 

\--

Naruto twisted in the sheets, wrinkling and soaking them beyond repair. He was curled in a tight, pained ball on his side. “Sas-nngh!” He moaned in utter anguish, tears cleaving through the sweat on his face. His caretaker was a crabby, elderly frog named Shima. She’d been a grandmotherly figure to him his entire life and was more equipped to handle him in this state than Jiraiya. She forced water down his parched throat and wiped the sweat and slick from him at regular intervals, her harsh brand of care exactly what his situation called for. “Oh, my poor child. This will pass, I promise!” She assured him in her shrieky croak. Naruto blinked up at her weakly. “Sasuke.” He begged. His body tightened visibly as he uttered his friend’s name. His mind’s eye was full of sharingan red and muscle wrapped in fine ivory. 

He felt phantom hands in his hair and around his throat, a hot mouth leaving burns on his skin. Sasuke’s voice was a dark, sweet promise in his ear. “I’ll take care of you, no one else.” Slick dribbled down his thighs anew at such thoughts, and Shima tutted worriedly. “I know, sweet child, but he isn’t here.” Naruto choked on a loud sob. He wrapped both arms around his overheated core, squeezing himself tightly. He couldn’t handle much more of this. He would die without Sasuke, he just knew it. A nervous knock sounded at his door, and Shima rushed to answer it. It was Jiraiya, predictably, checking on his charge. He tried entering the room, a thick cloth wrapped tightly around his nose and mouth, but she pushed him back and shut the door. “I know you want to see him, but it’s not safe. You may be older and suffering the lifelong pain of a lost mating bond, but you’re still an alpha.” She chastised. 

Jiraiya wanted to argue, but knew she was right. Even now, the desperate sounds and thick scents seeping through the paper walls were stirring his alpha blood. He felt disgusting for feeling such ways about his charge, but was old and wise enough to know biology had strong grips on them all. As long as he acknowledged there was nothing he could do and steered clear, the situation would blow over in a few short days. Shima ushered him out onto the veranda. Her plump, sagging features were ripe with concern. “Jiraiya--boy, I’m worried. I haven’t seen a first heat this severe in some time. I know there are ways for unmated alphas and omegas to get by alone, but I fear that might not be enough for Naruto. His body is undergoing such extreme, rapid changes...” 

Jiraiya’s heart dropped into his stomach at what Shima was implying. “You can’t be serious! He’s much too young, Baba, he isn’t ready for a mate.” 

“I’ll do all that I can, but if his condition continues to worsen, we need to make that call. As it is now, he’s unable to retain any fluids. He’ll experience severe dehydration before long.”

Jiraiya let his head drop into his palms. He didn’t want to entertain thoughts of mating Naruto off to a strange alpha who might treat him poorly, but if it would save his life, what choice did they have? “Who would we even...?” He trailed off tiredly. Shima grunted at his side. There weren’t many suitable, unmated alphas nearby for them to simply call upon at a moment’s notice. They shared a tense silence, both trying to spare Naruto the humiliation of listening in too closely. His agonized yowling could surely be heard throughout burrows and hovels up and down the mountain side. All the frogfolk who knew of Naruto’s plight filled the misty night with a hundred sorrowful songs. Their solemn contemplation was interrupted by the sudden, alarming arrival of one Itachi Uchiha. He was very recognizable, even in a full transformation. 

Jiraiya leapt from the veranda. His bare feet caught a chill in the dewy grass, though he barely noticed anything beyond the imposing junglecat trespassing on his plot. Itachi was an upstanding and morally fibrous individual, one Jiraiya would normally trust implicitly with Naruto’s wellbeing. Tonight, however, was not a normal night. Even Itachi was not immune to the pulls of biology, though it was obvious he thought himself above it all. The panther, lithe and nimble as they came, crept through the grass low enough for his underbelly to dampen with dew. He prowled in a half circle, and finally graced them with his human form after coming in disquieting reach of Jiraiya. Ironically, Itachi could be considered a solution to their problem, but Jiraiya wasn’t yet ready to peddle his son off like goods or livestock. 

“Itachi...” He started wearily. 

“I’m not here to take Naruto from you. I’m sure there’d be hell to pay if I tried.” He smirked like there was a joke afloat in his reply, but Jiraiya was too relieved to pick it out. Itachi wasn’t one to conceal his intentions, even if they were distressing or disagreeable. If he wanted Naruto as his mate, he would’ve said so. Jiraiya allowed himself to relax a little. “Then what’s brought you all this way?” 

“I think there are a few things we need to discuss.” He made to approach the little cottage, but stopped after a few steps. He stiffened visibly, kekkei genkai brightening his face more than moonlight ever could. Itachi rarely advertised what he thought or felt, but his impeccable mask slipped just long enough for Jiraiya to read the hunger beneath. As his fangs started to slide from gum, he seemed to regain the shreds of his control. He backpedaled several strides. “I...I apologize. I overestimated myself.” He admitted raggedly. Naruto’s scent was like a gossamer fog hanging over their humble territory. Itachi didn’t have the protective cloth, meager as it was, covering his oronasal passages that Jiraiya did. He was also much younger, and without a mate. 

While Jiraiya was shocked to witness such a strong reaction from the normally composed man, he was also impressed at the level of restraint he still commanded over himself. A lesser alpha wouldn’t think or care to fight his instincts so hard. He turned to address the timeworn toad huddled by the half--ajar shoji. She clutched the rice paper fiercely. “Shima, please see to Naruto. Itachi and I will be back shortly.” She speared Itachi with a final look before doing so. The two men traversed deeper into the mountain, until they came upon the sacred oil fountain and its multitude of surrounding statues. The cloying, almost sweet smell of sage oil and rush of the waterfall were enough to push Naruto’s distress from their minds. 

They sat crosslegged, close enough to the small pool that oil nearly lapped at their ankles. “I won’t beat around the bush.” Itachi started. “Naruto has gone into heat prematurely because of Sasuke.” 

Jiraiya made a shocked noise, but Itachi continued with his explanation before he could interrupt. “From what Sasuke was able to tell me during his brief moment of clarity, the two were together and must have fallen asleep. I believe Sasuke went into heat during that time, and managed to ignite Naruto’s as well. For reasons I don’t yet understand, Naruto fled from my little brother despite having already entered his heat.”

Jiraiya blinked, mouth agape. He cast his eyes across the amber lagoon like he might find clarity there. “Well...that certainly answers a lot. While I’m not at all comfortable with the idea of Naruto taking a lifemate during his first heat, I admit to sharing your confusion.” He locked gazes with Itachi and frowned. “Since I found him in his current state, he’s done nothing but beg for Sasuke. Is it possible...Sasuke rejected him?”

Itachi shook his head. “No. When I came upon my foolish brother, he was in full transformation and uprooting half the forest. Once I forced him to shift, Naruto was all he could think about. I told him I would come check on the kit’s wellbeing after he addressed his concerns, and that alone caused him to attack me with intent to kill.” He huffed in amusement. “As I was making the trip to you this evening, I came across a clearing where I believe them both to have begun their heat. There are clear scent markers; Naruto ran and Sasuke pursued him.” A contemplative silence overtook them. It was something of a mystery, but what remained certain was Naruto’s declining health. 

"The solution seems an obvious one, no?" Jiraiya finally muttered. As difficult as it was to imagine his charge mated for life after just one heat, the alternative was a far more bitter thought. Sasuke was a good match, and the two had history. Jiraiya wasn't blind to the chemistry they'd developed over the years, as much as he wanted to be. Itachi hummed. A worried sound that was completely uncharacteristic of him. "My parents are a problem. They plan for Sasuke and I to mate into prestigious families. Now that he's entered his first heat, they will certainly start calling for wealthy households to present their eligible omegas to him." 

"Do you think he would be accepting of another omega?"

"I can't say. When he experiences any sort of clarity, Naruto is his number one priority, but the further along his heat progresses, his beast may not recognize one submissive body from another." 

Jiraiya frowned deep enough to gouge his brow. "If he were to take another mate, I fear the worst for Naruto. He may not make it through this heat without taking a mate, and we don't exactly have our pick of upstanding alphas. Just about anyone could take advantage of him during this time, when he's at his most vulnerable." 

Itachi's stare was hard and unreadable. After a long silence in which they both turned the situation in their minds, Itachi stood from his crosslegged seat. "I will find a way to deliver Sasuke to this place." With those parting words, he made the effortless shift into his animal form and disappeared in the brush. Jiraiya watched his exit grimly. Time was of the essence, as their options would be dreadful and slim otherwise. He stood, wrapping his mouth and nose in the burlap cloth, and made for the humble hovel he shared with his son. 

\-- chapter III --

Itachi found things within the compound much as he predicted them to be. Several clan heads were already in audience with his parents, their respective offerings clad in all manner of silk and finery. Itachi recognized the Hyuuga siblings, Hinata and Hanabi; the former being one of Sasuke and Naruto's school mates and childhood friend. She looked - as always - absolutely terrified, despite poor attempts to mask it. Her younger sister, however, the picture of calm. He also spotted the sweeping blonde updo of the Yamanaka's only daughter. Itachi was unsure which he found more garish: the way her kimono barely stretched over the mounds of her ass, or the glee shining bright and unabashed in her face. 

He continued past the gathering of strangers in his home, decidedly ignoring the way they bid for his little brother's freedom and livelihood like at auction. He eventually found Sasuke stowed in a dwelling to the back of the compound, far from scenting range of the unmated omegas and their escorts. A combination of his worsening heat and drugs rendered him delirious, yet docile. He was half transformed, fang and claw poised to pierce and puncture. His hair hung long and untamed down his back, soaked with fever sweat. He was kept in shackles, but paid them no mind. Naked, drooling, and eyes completely aglaze; Itachi was sad to see his brother in such a sorry state. 

He crouched next to his brother's broken body, sympathetic and a bit repulsed. His nose wrinkled against the pheromones saturating the air. "Oh, Sasuke." He sighed. He shattered the iron about Sasuke's wrists and ankles with an easy swipe of claws. Sasuke's head lolled on his shoulders like he were a newborn, then dropped to the floor with a thunk. The weight of it was too much. He whined and arched his back. His misery was palpable. Itachi scooped him up with plans to take him someplace safe to detox. His mindless rage would return as the sedatives phased from his blood, but Itachi was counting on it. He'd be much easier to manipulate then. As he turned to leave the hut, he came faced with his father. Fugaku looked briefly surprised, before his expression turned cold and flinty. "What are you doing, Itachi?" He hissed. 

"Father." Itachi greeted, cool and unbothered.

"I know you dislike these arranged matings, but Sasuke is in pain. He needs to mate, or his health will continue to deteriorate." 

When did his father start telling jokes? The idea that any mating to take place was for Sasuke's benefit and not to elevate the clan's status and power was little more than stand up fodder. Amusing at best, at worst? A flat lie to soothe any guilt he felt for selling off his youngest son like chattel. Itachi reigned in a scoff. "Sasuke already has a mate."

Fugaku became openly furious. "No, he doesn't. Cease these frivolous games and give your brother to me! It has been decided that he will mate with Hiashi's eldest daughter." 

The terrified one. Sasuke in his current state would leave her with enough trauma to last three lifetimes. Itachi did scoff then, as the match was so poor, it could only be a political one. "Step aside, or I will move you." 

"Move me?" Fugaku laughed, then snarled. "I encourage you to try." 

Itachi looked down into his little brother's face, shiny and twisted up. His beast was fighting to surface. He put his mouth by Sasuke's ear. “Fear not, little brother. You will see him very soon.” He murmured. Sasuke showed no recognition, or even that he heard Itachi at all, but Itachi had hope his reassurance touched somewhere deep in Sasuke’s psyche. He laid his brother back on the cot and turned to his father. “I do not make it a habit to interfere in clan politics, and I often abide by whatever guideline or policy you deign to set forth as our clan leader and my father. I have no desire to fight with you, or harm you, but Sasuke will always take priority over the interests of the clan. His happiness is my happiness, and the one his heart craves is Naruto.” Itachi stated, plain and blunt. 

Fugaku looked aghast, and Itachi couldn’t be sure what threw him more; that Sasuke wants Naruto as his mate, or that Itachi was openly admitting he would fight, possibly kill, for what Sasuke wants. “Naru - “ Fugaku started, almost dazed. “Naruto?! Don’t make me laugh. Such a coupling would bear no offspring, it would be a completely fruitless mating meant purely to satisfy Sasuke’s own selfish desires.” He hissed. His eyes bled through with red, his Sharingan meant to intimidate Itachi. Itachi chuckled, and was immediately indignant with himself for doing so. It was just so...humorous. His father well and truly believed he was most powerful between the two of them. Having only used this ability on a select few, Itachi quickly deigned the best way to end this confrontation with minimal bloodshed. 

He allowed the tomae in his eyes to swirl and blend together into its mangekyo form. Fugaku blanched, as he was previously unaware Itachi had obtained the mangekyo and the implications behind that. “Itachi, you - how did you - ?” 

“That is a tale for another time, father. I will regale you upon our return. Fear not, I did not end a life to obtain it.” He smiled, frigid thing that it was. “Tsukiyomi!” 

The light drained from Fugaku’s eyes as he was cast under one of Itachi’s more powerful genjutsu. His face slackened and his body slumped. The sharingan bled from his eyes and a soft glaze overtook their black depths. Itachi wasn’t so cruel as to leave his father’s mind suspended in torture. He placed him in a fictitious dreamworld where he and his mother picnicked in a daisy field. Itachi briefly wondered if it was too kind, but dismissed the thought. His father often meant well, but was misguided and too caught up in politics and duty, to the point where he overlooked his family’s personal happiness at - rather imperative - times. He sighed again, and my, had he been doing a lot of that in these past hours. 

Itachi scooped Sasuke up, frowning at the heat rolling off his skin in palpable waves, and exited the small hut in which he’d been kept. He was unsurprised to see his mother several paces away. She looked...sad, but pleased. “Itachi...please, tell me what is to become of my son?” 

He offered her a soft look, as soft as he could manage, and approached her. “Mother...fear not. Sasuke’s mate awaits him on Mount Myoboku.”

She laughed weakly, trying to hide her tears in the sound. “Sweet Naruto. I cannot even pretend to be surprised. Those two have always been...” She shook her head, and laughed again. She rested her palm against Sasuke’s damp cheek, and looked down into his agonized face with so much love and affection. “Is Naruto...?” 

“He is in heat as well. Sasuke unexpectedly entered his heat while they were together, and triggered Naruto prematurely. I have little time to explain the finer details, but Naruto’s health is declining. They must be united at once.” 

Mikoto looked concerned, but understood time was of the essence, and didn’t press further. She nodded, and stepped away. “I will deal with our guests. Please, do what needs to be done for our boys. Keep them safe, and...thank you, Itachi.” 

Itachi departed without any further words. According to his earlier plan, he needed a safe place for Sasuke to detox. Then, he will lead him in chase to Naruto. He carried Sasuke to the same clearing where his heat was ignited, where he and Naruto used to play. Their scent markers were strong in this place, and the smell of heat still lingered. Itachi found it hard to tolerate, but he hoped the familiar scent would rouse Sasuke from his stupor at a faster rate. He used a single claw to rip the bottom of his haori into neat strips, and wet them in the brook. He wiped the sweat from Sasuke’s skin, and fed him water from a cupped hand, which he unconsciously drank. Sasuke was in a sorry state, but he knew it wasn’t quite as dire as Naruto’s. Itachi couldn’t squash the worry bubbling in his chest. 

An hour passed, and Sasuke was almost completely lucid. His eyes were sharingan bright and lacking any humanity. He rolled onto his belly, and climbed onto his hands and knees. His back was shaped in a painful arch, as he growled and snarled at the ground. Saliva poured from his mouth and wet the soft dirt, his claws leaving deep gouges in the earth. “Where...” His voice was inhuman and distorted with rumbling growls from the far reaches of his throat. “Where is he...where is Na-ru-to?” He sounded demonic, and for the first time, Itachi worried at what would become of Naruto during their coupling. Would Sasuke have the presence of mind to keep from harming him? Or would their mating be so desperate, that Naruto would come out of it in a worse state than when going in? Itachi would have to play it by ear, if it came to that. 

“Little brother...you wish to see your mate?” Itachi called his attention, appearing all too lax in his graceful recline against a near tree. “Come, I will lead you.” 

Sasuke whipped his head fast enough to crack the bones of his neck. He roared, seeping a strong enough killing intent to quiet the sounds of nearby forest critters. “No! Stay away, mine!” He was in a true bloodlust, and Itachi was no longer his brother, but an enemy threatening nearness to his mate. He shifted fully into his panther form, unable to stop himself, and Itachi did the same. He wouldn’t allow Sasuke the time to strike, only to chase. He set a breakneck speed to Jiraiya’s dwelling atop Mount Myoboku, Sasuke hot on his heels. The underbrush clung to their fur as it was snapped and trampled over. The moon guided them as they leapt over branches and boulders; Sasuke was a snarling, howling beast at his back, out for the blood of his perceived enemy. Itachi amped up the pace; might as well wear him out a bit so he doesn’t have a chance to exert himself completely onto Naruto. He wondered at what state the little kit might be in, knowing enough to feat the worst.

\-- chapter IV --

Naruto knew only pain; an abyssal, bottomless pain that shone like a beacon through his every fiber and turned him inside out. The empty feeling in his body, like a yawning cavern, was permeating his heart and soul. He screamed and cried until his voice broke into a whisper and his tears dried up, and even then, he didn’t stop. He was so hot, and it wouldn’t end, he thought he must be caught aflame in an eternal fire. Was he in hell? Nothing made sense, he didn’t know his up from down, or anything past the pain and bitter longing. What was he longing for? No, not a what, a who. Who was he...? Eyes like blood, hair like a raven’s wing, pale skin whispering over unyielding muscle, a voice so deep and dark murmuring even darker promises to him. Another flash of heat had him curling into a tight, miserable ball. “Sa..Sas...Sasuke...please.” He gasped, and the pain was surely a living, breathing thing inside him. He felt so dry, so thirsty, and yet the slick between his thighs wouldn’t stop. 

Shima hopped through the sliver in the shoji door, her thin, old bones creaking with the movement. Her heart broke at the miserable sight of her young charge, usually so full of energy and life. “Oh, my sweet child. He is on the way for you, Sasuke is coming. Please, hold on just a little longer.” She urged. She pushed back his blonde fringe, floppy and limp, and draped a cool cloth over his forehead. Its relief was lost on him. His eyes were bloodshot and raw, and he looked at Shima without seeing. Her words meant to offer comfort fell on deaf ears. He panted, feeling short of breath. Nothing made sense, nothing. He felt phantom hands ghosting over him, grabbing and squeezing. They were big and familiar, and felt so good; imagination was a powerful thing and his was running wild. 

Outside, several meters from the property, Jiraiya patrolled the surrounding trees for friend and foe alike. He had to keep his distance from Naruto, and he felt this was a good way to burn off all the restless energy building inside him. Itachi said he’d bring Sasuke, and Jiraiya was extremely anxious for their arrival. He had no idea what to expect. Itachi had mentioned Sasuke’s own heat is what triggered this chain of events, so what kind of state was Sasuke currently in? Was he sane enough to complete a mating with Naruto without harming him any further? Jiraiya desperately wished for Naruto’s swift recovery, and knew a successful mating needed to happen, but he would not allow Sasuke near his charge if the boy was delirious enough to accidentally kill him. 

A few minutes passed and Jiraiya could detect a terrible commotion ascending the mountain. Trees creaked and groaned as they were felled in the distance, and flocks of birds took to the sky in a haste as their homes were disturbed and predators drew near. Jiraiya had no doubts, it was Itachi and Sasuke. His heart plummeted into the depths below. To be causing such destruction on their approach, Sasuke must be in an unstoppable, tumultuous rage. When they broke into the clearing, Itachi first, then Sasuke snapping at his heels, they were both fully transformed. Jiraiya leapt back to a safe distance. Itachi should be more than capable of handling his sibling, or so the old sage hoped. The two engaged in a brief, but fierce fight for dominance. Sasuke may have fought better against his elder brother were he in a more stable frame of mind, but his blind rage left him an easy target for Itachi. 

Itachi snagged Sasuke by the scruff, his powerful jaws clamping down on the loose skin there. He wrestled Sasuke to the ground and released a mighty roar, so powerful it shook the ground Jiraiya stood on. The toad songs stopped, the sounds of nature were quieted altogether. Sasuke was shocked enough that a fraction of his sanity was restored. Itachi forced them both to shift, retaining their human forms. Both were naked and wet with blood from minor scrapes, the contrast of their blood and bright., pale skin a macabre picture in the first rays of morning. Both were panting harshly, though Sasuke’s eyes still held their wild glaze. He looked completely taken by beast and instinct, more so than Jiraiya had ever seen him. “Naruto...Naruto...Where is he?!” Sasuke chanted, his voice still half a growl. 

He must have caught wind of Naruto’s scent, pungent and reaching as it was in this area, as his pupils grew twice their size and his head snapped in the direction of the hut. He struggled in Itachi’s hold like his very life depended on it, or maybe harder than that. He put his everything into bucking Itachi off, but his elder brother held fast. “Sasuke! Listen to me!” Itachi barked. “You must listen to me!” 

Sasuke stopped struggling long enough to affix Itachi with a glare so full of hatred and loathing, his lips pulled back in an ugly snarl. He only recognized Itachi as an obstacle in the way of his mate, or a possible challenger. He wanted nothing to do with his brother except perhaps his swift death. Jiraiya was terrified, and close to forbidding Sasuke from nearing the hut and Naruto within. His mind was too clouded by the heat, and the coupling was sure to be a violent affair if allowed. “Itachi...” He hissed, pure malice coloring his voice. “Release me.” 

Itachi chuckled, and Jiraiya was a bit floored to hear it. “If you can speak, you can listen, foolish little brother. I have led you here, to your mate. He awaits you, but he is in a miserable state. Naruto’s health is declining, and you’re mating is imperative to keeping him alive. However, you must keep a firm grasp on whatever shreds of humanity remain within you. If you go to him as you are now, you will surely cause him further harm. Get a hold of yourself, Sasuke. You must.” Itachi commanded him. 

His words must have broken through the fever, if only somewhat, as Sasuke forced himself to relax. His face smoothed itself of its previous snarl, and he locked sharingan reds with his brother. His chest heaved with the effort of maintaining the aforementioned shreds of control. “I...understand.” He ground out, fangs clenched and poking past his lips. Before letting him up from the ground, Itachi turned to Jiraiya for his approval, and Jiraiya was immensely relieved and grateful. Jiraiya considered the young, distraught panther on the ground, struggling with all his might to keep some composure. The strong scent of Naruto’s heat and despair hung thick and heavy in the air, yet Sasuke was fighting to keep still in his brother's hold. 

After another moment’s hesitation, Jiraiya nodded. Itachi turned back to his brother and gave one last meaningful look, before releasing him. In what felt like the time it took for Jiraiya to blink, Sasuke was across the clearing and through the shoji doors, where Naruto lay in wait. Itachi approached him. “We should leave this place and allot them a bit of privacy for the time being. I will cast a barrier to prevent anyone from entering or becoming aware of what’s to transpire within.” 

Jiraiya considered him, before nodding in agreement. “Ah, that would be best. Will you become aware should anything go awry?” 

Itachi huffed. “Unfortunately, yes. I will be listening for signs of distress from either of the two. Should I sense discord, we will do what must be done.” 

With that, Itachi and Jiraiya left the two be, though they remained close enough to intervene if necessary. Upon entering the hut, Sasuke was nearly overwhelmed once again. Naruto was asleep, but barely. He slept fitfully, twitching and moaning on the soaked through cot. Sasuke openly salivated, the last tatters of his humanity that he fought so hard to recover quickly spiraling down a metaphorical drain. He could smell the slick, the heat, as Naruto’s body desperately cried out for him to take it and make it his own. He could also smell the pain and fever, and was consumed with the desire to care and nurture and make all the hurt go away. Naruto needed him in more ways than one, and his instincts raged inside of him. 

Quietly, he crept toward the little fox and pulled the thin sheet from where it clung to his sticky skin, leaving him as bare as the day he came into this world. Sasuke had seen Naruto like this a lot when they were younger, but it had been some time. He certainly hadn't seen his friend's nakedness since before puberty hit him like a brick to the face, and the sight of it stirred him beyond measure. Naruto had grown, just as he had, but their different natures had molded them into the men they were today. Naruto was smaller than him, and while he’d developed muscle of his own from years of frolic and play, his form was willowy and lithe. His arms and legs were so long, perfect to wrap around Sasuke and hold fast as he throttled him into the dirt. His coloring was bright, flesh kissed by the sun, golden and freckled. His cock was a small, red thing between his supple thighs. The slick had left his skin nearly raw, as it hadn’t stopped flowing since his heat was first awakened. Sasuke wanted to bury his face in it, he wanted to drown and die in it. It was beautiful, he was beautiful. 

His lower belly bubbled with fire; his cock bobbed between his legs, red, angry, and veins pushing against the skin there like they might pop. Drool slipped over his check and down the column of his neck, and his cum was accumulating in a small puddle on the floor. Deep, deep in the back of his mind, the last vestiges of him that clung to rationality, Sasuke knew he looked like an undignified beast and Naruto would probably be terrified at the sight of him in this state if he were also in a normal frame of mind. But he wasn’t, they were both in the throes of heat, and Sasuke couldn’t be more thrilled. Naruto was his, and his alone, and he was going to make it so. Carefully, so as not to wake him, Sasuke positioned himself atop the sleeping kit. Naruto moaned, and it was a pained sound that Sasuke hated. Ever so slowly, he dropped his body to rest completely on top of Naruto’s. Their combined heat was sweltering and utterly delicious. Sasuke dragged his mouth up the taut, tan column of Naruto’s neck, allowing his fangs to drag along the thin skin and his tongue to collect the salty beads gathered there. 

He rested his lips against the hot shell of his ear, and just breathed him for a moment. Naruto was responding to him beautifully, even while asleep. His breathing quickened and soft, sweet gasps slipped past his puffy lips. His body arched into the hard heat atop him, and he tossed his head into the cotton beneath it to give Sasuke total access to his throat. Even in slumber, he was presenting himself. Sasuke growled long and low. It took all he had not to sink his teeth in deep and mark Naruto as he slept. No, no, he needed to be awake. He needed to feel it and know what it meant, who he belonged to for the rest of his life. They would belong to each other and no one else. Sasuke decided to get bold. He pushed a hand between Naruto’s legs and felt wet, so much wet. His hand was completely soaked in a matter of seconds. Sasuke felt his eyes roll up into his skull, as a shiver wracked him from head to toe. 

It was warm and thick, like syrup, and he had the urge to taste it. He didn’t even pretend to stop himself, and brought his hand to his mouth. He laved his tongue in a long stripe across his palm and allowed the flavor of it to seep into his taste buds. It was, by far, the best thing he’d ever tasted. Like a honeycomb in heaven burst open and dripped it’s nectar onto the earth below, too sweet for mere mortals to consume without losing their mind. Which Sasuke nearly did. He returned his hand to that warmth, and sought the place of origin. He found Naruto’s opening easily enough between plump mounds of flesh. It was loose and ready, and shivered against the pad of his forefinger. Sasuke breathed heavily, his breath strong enough to move Naruto’s flaxen locks. He was amazed that Naruto still slept, and yet, the kit was surely exhausted. It was only right to let him sleep a little longer. 

As gently as he could, he slipped a finger inside that wet, warm space. Naruto sucked him in easily, greedily. The little fox mewled, and unconsciously began impaling himself on Sasuke’s lone finger. His hips began a rhythm like they had a mind all their own, as he worked himself over for any relief at all. Sasuke reared back on his haunches and watched Naruto move in his sleep, like taken by a possession. Generous and benevolent mate that he is, he slipped two more fingers into him. Naruto clenched around him and began bucking in earnest. He yowled in his sleep, his tail twitching where it was trapped below him. Sasuke groaned, louder than he meant to, and took his turgid length in hand. He fisted himself in earnest, and moved his fingers inside Naruto to the same rhythm. Unbeknownst to Sasuke at first, Naruto woke to himself being fervently opened up. 

Groggy from the vestiges of a broken REM cycle, Naruto finally stirred to an unbelievably pleasant feeling. He almost felt delusional at the goodness of it, as all he’d felt for so long was pain and emptiness. He didn’t quite feel full or content, but he felt a shadow of it. He was moving, he realized, or his body was. His hips were pumping of their own accord. Prying his eyelids apart was a task on its own, and he found himself blinking several times to bring the world to focus. He saw...no, it must be another fever dream. He was hallucinating again, he thought. The unresolved heat had turned his brain to soup. But Gods above, it felt so good and Sasuke looked so real this time, better than any of his fever--induced dreams or fantasies thus far. “Sa-Sasuke, nngh! Please!” He cried, giving into the fantasy and allowing himself to indulge while it lasted. 

It stopped suddenly, and Naruto thought he must have killed the dream by openly acknowledging it. He whimpered and a hard sob wracked him at the loss of sensation. Then, Sasuke spoke, and his voice...it sounded real, really real. “Naruto...” Sasuke huffed. “You’re finally awake, eh, dobe?” And he sounded as wrecked and ragged as Naruto felt. Naruto gasped, and his eyes snapped open. Sasuke was still...there. He hadn’t faded with reality, he was still right there, seated between his splayed legs and naked and so beautiful. “Sasuke...y-you’re real?” He whispered, and his lip quivered at the thought of the alternative, that none of this was real and he was still deep in the throes of a bitter, brain-soup hallucination. 

Sasuke smirked, and twisted his fingers where they still sat inside him. He pulled them out until just the tips remained ensconced by the silken flesh, before smashing them back into place and curling at the knuckles until they touched that most sensitive bundle of nerves tucked deep inside. Naruto screamed with what little voice he had left and nearly folded himself in half. “Tell me...did that feel real?” He snarled, his glee and excitement palpable between them. His kekkei genkai was bright and untamed in his eyes. “Did it, Naruto?” He repeated the movement, over and over, until Naruto was a writhing, sobbing mess beneath him. In the few minutes his ministrations continued, Naruto reached orgasm three times. His cock sputtered weakly where it lay against his belly, and cum painted him up to his collar bones. “You should answer me, I won’t stop until you do. You look so good like this, you should look like this all the time.” |

“Y-yes! Pl-please, Sasuke, I-I-I can’t!” Naruto wailed. He tried to pull himself away, but Sasuke’s hand was like iron around his hip bone, pinning him down. He was finally, finally feeling relief for the first time since entering his heat, but it was too much too fast and he was quickly feeling over-sensitized. Taking mercy on him, Sasuke stopped. He pulled his fingers free of Naruto’s bruised hole and draped his body over Naruto’s shaking one. Again, he brought his mouth to rest at Naruto’s ear. “I will take care of you, now and always. If you’ll have me, I’ll relieve you of this pain, as many times as you need me to, over and over, until you beg me to stop.” He murmured. “This is real, I’m real, Naruto.” 

Naruto summoned the energy to wrap his arms around Sasuke’s neck and clung to him. “Y-yes, I want that, I..I need it, Sasuke. It’s so hot and it hurts. I want you to...to take care of me.” He admitted, and felt ashamed and embarrassed by it. Naruto had a lot of pride, and ever since they could walk, he’d always competed with Sasuke and wanted to best him at everything they did. As they aged and hit puberty, the differences between them became impossible to ignore. Sasuke was an alpha, and Naruto an omega. It was a hard pill to swallow, but Naruto managed to do it. He accepted that Sasuke would be stronger than him, faster than him, and more cunning than him. Ultimately, it didn’t change their dynamic. They were still the best of friends and Naruto still felt the need to compete, though most things he knew he’d lose. Before long, his feelings for Sasuke did change, though not in the way he imagined they would. 

Once their natures were established, Naruto thought he’d feel jealous and resentful of his friend. Instead, he started to feel things he didn’t understand, or maybe...didn’t want to accept. He wanted Sasuke’s attention on him, and only him, all the time. He liked it whenever Sasuke would touch him or get close. He felt giddy and drunk at the sight of him, and even shy at times. It was completely unlike him, so he did his best to smother it. Never, in a hundred millennia, would he suspect Sasuke harbored any similar feelings. He wouldn’t let himself entertain the thought; even if Sasuke did like him in a more-than-platonic manner, his clan would never allow a union between them. Sasuke was an heir of the main household and expected to produce offspring. Yet, here they are. 

Sasuke scented him deeply, his face rooted in the crook of his neck. “Good.” He murmured. “I want that too.” 

He slid his hands down the length of Naruto’s back, catching sweat and slick. “How do you want me to take care of you?” His voice was dissolving into growls and guttural sounds, as he’d almost reached the end of his control. Their cocks were nestled together in the cradle of their joined bodies, and Naruto was intimidated by the difference in size. He was also hungry for it, and knew it to be exactly what he needed to achieve the relief he’d been seeking so desperately these past few days. “I...I don’t - ” Naruto couldn’t cop to his cluelessness about sex and intimacy. He honestly didn’t know where to start or what to ask for, just that he needed...something, and he needed it now. Sasuke must have sensed this, and chuckled. Were it any other day, any other circumstances, Naruto would be furious. 

Sasuke picked his head up from its resting place in Naruto’s throat. He looked strained, but serious. “Naruto, just...tell me if it’s too much. I won’t make you false promises, but I’ll do my best to stop if it’s what you ask of me.” 

Naruto nodded after a second’s hesitation. Sasuke propped himself up on his palms, his strong arms a cage on either side of Naruto’s head. With one hand, he reached for the underside of Naruto’s thigh and pushed it into his chest. “Hold this for me.”

Naruto did as asked, holding himself open for his friend-mate-whatever they are now. He was mortified at first, and felt like a piece of meat in a display case, but as he felt Sasuke aline himself at his fluttering entrance, his mortification gave way to excitement and butterflies. He wanted it so bad, more than he’d wanted anything in his young life, and the thought of being impaled on Sasuke and filled to his breaking point had slick leaking from him anew. Sasuke hissed through his teeth at the feeling of it, and took that as his cue. He pushed into Naruto with as much tenderness and caution as he possessed, which frankly wasn’t as much as he’d hoped for. After the first few inches of himself slid into that impossible tightness, he couldn’t stop himself from snapping his hips and bottoming out. It was tight, so tight, but Naruto’s natural wetness made it an easy transition. Biology was on their side. 

Naruto’s eyes bugged out of their sockets and the breath was knocked from his lungs. His back jumped from the cot into a perfect arch, his jaw dropped in a silent scream. This, this was it. This was what he’d been missing, what his body had been begging for and his mind was nearly lost over. Sasuke was big, and he felt full and stretched and every good feeling a person could feel. Sasuke knocked his hand aside and reclaimed his grip on the underside of Naruto’s thigh. He pushed it forward, testing the limits of Naruto’s flexibility, and settled himself as deeply into the vee of his legs as possible. His other hand found purchase on the cot, scant inches from Naruto’s face. They looked at each and just basked in it: the togetherness of their bodies and souls. They were connected in the most intimate way two beings could be, and the initial feeling was enough to shock them into brief stillness, where even their shared breath seemed to crystalize in the minimal space between their faces. 

The spell was soon cast off, as the desire to create friction overcame them both. Naruto panted and squirmed, tears gathering in his lashes. “Sas-uke...” He couldn’t voice what he needed, he didn’t know how, or was maybe too embarrassed to do so while Sasuke was buried in him. Sasuke didn’t need to hear more than his own name, broken and wanton, from that lush mouth. He grinned, and it was a big, feral thing that struck sudden fear into Naruto. It was the same smile Sasuke kept reserved for a hunt, in the midst of killing something. He withdrew himself almost completely from Naruto, until just the head of his girth caught at the rim, before slamming back in with what felt like a force of nature at his back. Naruto screamed, his head snapping back. That was the pace Sasuke set for them. He kept Naruto folded in half, and pounded into him until the cot beneath them was flattened to a ghost of its former, fluffy self. Naruto could do little more than take what Sasuke gave.

He dug his claws into Sasuke’s forearm, his other hand scrabbling at the floorboards for purchase, and finding none. When he remembered how to take air back into his lungs, he screamed and cried in earnest. That terrible emptiness was gone, and the fire in his blood wasn’t quite tamed, but it was no longer burning him alive. The tempo Sasuke kept was brutal and unforgiving, and it had Naruto’s nerve endings popping to life in ways no fantasy or dream would ever measure up to. Incredibly, he felt himself get wetter, and Naruto didn’t know it was possible for one body to produce as much liquid matter as he had. Sasuke was spurred on at the feel of it, of Naruto dripping around him, and smashed their bodies together hard enough to send pain shooting up his spine. Naruto keened, high and distressed. Sasuke recognized the sound for what it was, and immediately stopped. He was still seated deeply inside him, but allowed his leg to drop from its previous position against his chest. 

He pressed his nose to Naruto’s throat and inhaled deeply, scenting him and apologizing without words, for his mind was too gone to form them. His tail lashed like a whip at his back, and Naruto felt the downy fur brush against his knees and inner thighs. Sasuke felt bad, but couldn’t make himself pull out or stop completely. His hips still twitched, a barely-there movement that caused the head of his cock to drag across Naruto’s prostate repeatedly. It was tortuous, and Naruto reached his fifth orgasm in seconds. He tightened around Sasuke like a fleshy vice, gripping and massaging him where he remained sunken into that silken space. Sasuke snarled hard enough to send the vibrations through Naruto’s chest, and tore the cot into weeping threads between his fingers. “Gah - !” Naruto choked on an aborted scream, the sound stuck in his throat as his body completely seized. 

Sasuke yanked himself free, and Naruto found the world in a tailspin. He was on his stomach. His cheek bruised where it was crushed to the floor, as Sasuke buried a hand in his hair and held him there. He was pulled onto his knees, his hips yoked up by Sasuke’s forearm. “Mine!” Sasuke roared above him, and pushed back into his waiting heat with renewed vigor. He fucked Naruto like it was his one and only purpose on this plane, and all the places in the universe they might exist beyond this one. Naruto drooled into the floor, his pupils blown out. His brain must have officially leaked out of him, as he could process nothing past the give and take of their bodies. He never wanted this to end, and at the same time, didn’t know how much more he could take. Fortunately, or not, Sasuke was nearing his first orgasm to Naruto’s five. 

His hips lost their smooth rhythm and dissipated into frantic jerks and twitches. He left holes in Naruto’s hips where his claws sunk through, his blood mixing with the sweat and slick. He tensed, his head dropping forward and teeth gnashing, as his first knot grew to size inside his mate. Sasuke’s body spasmed, his brain flat-lining from the otherworldly bliss of it. He unloaded into Naruto, and felt like he was shooting projectiles out of his cock. It was the climax of their first round, and Sasuke was running on pure instinct. He yanked Naruto’s head from the floor until his back was beautifully bowed, and bent to meet him halfway. With no warning to the fucked-out kit, he sunk his fangs to their root, completing their bond in that most animal and ancient of rituals. Naruto shrieked, and promptly blacked out, finally at his physical limit. Some clarity was restored to Sasuke in those next seconds. 

He had enough presence of mind to carefully lower Naruto to his former place on the battered cot. He breathed heavily as he looked upon the purpled visage of his new mate. He felt many things: relief, pride, more arousal, but also worry and guilt. He feared he’d been too rough, though he knew his heat had progressed to the point where there was little he could’ve done to tame himself. Without moving too much, as his knot kept him locked inside the small body beneath him, he leaned down and pressed his nose to Naruto’s throat, scenting him for damage or distress. Naruto was asleep again, and Sasuke could smell no negative feelings from him. He had bruises and bled in the places Sasuke had bitten and grabbed, but no broken bones or irreparable injuries. In fact, Sasuke could see the purple mottling start to clear from his skin and the puncture wounds sealing up. His kitsune nature granted him accelerated healing, and Sasuke hated to admit so, but he was almost annoyed to see his markings fade. The bigger part of him, however, was happy to know he hadn’t hurt his mate beyond the superficial. 

Even more carefully, so as not to disturb Naruto from his much needed rest, he laid himself behind him and arranged them so they were both on their side. Sasuke was still rooted deeply inside Naruto, and knew he would be for sometime, so he tried to make them as comfortable as possible for the interim period. When Naruto woke, they would need food, water, and new bedding. Their heat had been assuaged for a temporary time, but Sasuke knew they had several long days and nights ahead of them, and he was eager for every second of it. 

\-- chapter V --

Sasuke had dozed off without meaning to. He woke a little over an hour later, judging by the sun’s climb in the sky. It was almost noon, and had been two days since their heat began. Sasuke realized his knot had softened, though he was still hard enough to pound nails. Naruto slept on, and it seemed much more sound and restful than earlier. Sasuke held the kit to him in a protective embrace, back to chest, and felt the tips of his ears whispering along the underside of his jaw as they fluttered to the beat of his dreams. He noticed his mating mark where it sat puckered in the dip of his throat and shoulder. It had healed completely in the time they slept, but unlike other wounds he might sustain, it would scar and be a prominent signature on him for the rest of his days. Sasuke rumbled deep in his chest, feeling aggressively proud and territorial. Now there would be no mystery or question, and no one could refute his claim. He would kill them where they stood if they tried as much. 

Naruto moaned softly and shifted in the bracket of Sasuke's arms. His internal muscles clamped down on Sasuke where he remained nestled so deeply, and Sasuke bit back a snarl. The urge to flip Naruto onto his stomach and pound him back to consciousness was difficult to overcome, but they couldn't survive on sex alone. They needed food, water, and more comfortable accommodations. As if on cue, Naruto's stomach gurgled loudly. Sasuke smirked. Knowing him as well as he did, he'd probably want half a dozen bowls of ramen. However, his instincts demanded he hunt for his mate. He needed to prove his worthiness as a provider. Logically, Sasuke knew it was a bit silly and outdated, but logic wasn't in the front seat. His body screamed at him for doing so, but he carefully extracted himself from Naruto and allowed his cock to slide from that wet, decadent heat. He watched, utterly captivated, as their mixed essence gushed from where Naruto gaped open and dribbled between his cheeks and thighs. A small puddle steadily formed underneath him, and it was all Sasuke could do to not bend down and lap it up straight from the holy source. 

His sharingan shone bright as he committed the sight to memory for later reminiscence. The heat still had strong holds over him, and would for sometime, but his head had cleared considerably since undergoing his first knot and claiming his mate with the ritual bite. Forcing himself to stand on stiff legs, he searched the corners of the room for something to cover himself with. There was nothing but the shredded remains of the sheet Naruto had been covered with once upon a time. He sighed. Nothing to it, his naked body was nothing he was ashamed of, but he wasn't keen to be ogled by a bunch of old, lonely toads. Before he stepped through the shoji, he turned and cast one more fond look on his mate. Naruto, his mate. The thought struck him suddenly, and he felt a warmth gathering in his chest that he knew had nothing to do with the heat. He felt...affection, and love, and the more those feelings washed through him, the harder it was to leave.

He reminded himself several times over that this was a safe place, and Naruto would not be harmed or touched while he was away. Mount Myoboku was his home, and his guardian was nearby, Sasuke could smell the old sage. His eyes grew narrow, as he could also smell his brother. He knew Itachi harbored no romantic interest in Naruto, but he was still a strong, unmated alpha and Naruto an omega in first heat. He performed a full shift, and ran to them with haste. His paws beat the ground and it felt good, better than he’d felt in days. His blood pounded freely through his veins, uninhibited by heat’s cloying madness, While his instincts still raged, he wasn’t a slave to its will. He and Naruto could complete their first mating cycle with relatively clear heads, and enjoy the time fully. His fur stiffened in delight.

Itachi and Jiraiya were near the Sacred Oil Fountain. They sat on the fountain's stone steps, and Sasuke found three others among them. All frogs whom Sasuke knew well. Gamakichi, one of Naruto’s closest friends among the mountain’s amphibious folk, and the two elders, Shima and Fukasaku. They were greatly respected inside and out of their own community, and held a position of unofficial leadership over the rest of the toadfolk. Sasuke likened them to Naruto’s grandparents, as they’d always doted on him and looked after him in Jiraiya’s stead. They’d treated Sasuke similarly growing up, so he bore no ill will towards them. He landed in the dirt circle, a few feet from the grand fountain. Stone statues of varying size, all of once great toads, ensconced him on all sides. He prowled the perimeter of the circle for a moment, before shifting into his human state. He greeted his brother first, “Itachi.”

Itachi looked at complete ease in his recline against the stone partition, which per usual, pissed Sasuke off. “Sasuke. You seem well.” He smirked. Sasuke bristled. He wasn’t entirely sure why Itachi was here, though he did have faint memories of his brother dragging out the last of his humanity before allowing him close to Naruto. Which, he admitted, he was grateful for. Naruto may have an accelerated healing factor, but Sasuke balked to think what kind of damage he could’ve inflicted had he come upon Naruto fully beast. Before he could answer, Jiraiya stood. Shima and Fukasaku sat perched on his shoulders. “How is Naruto?” 

“He is well. I left him sleeping, he needed rest.”

Jiraiya considered him for a long moment, as if deciding to believe him or not. If he made attempts to check on Naruto himself, they both knew Sasuke wouldn’t allow it. Shima rested a hand on his cheek. “Fear not, Jiraiya-boy. I can sense Naruto even now, and Sasuke speaks the truth. He is at rest, and seems to be in a much more stable state than before.” 

Fukasaku croaked a laugh. “Ah, you had us real worked up, young Uchiha. Took you long enough!” He wagged a chastising fist. 

“Hm, that is quite good to hear.” Itachi said, eyes closed and casual as could be. He was utterly smug. 

“Itachi, why are you here?” He ground out. 

“Oh, you don’t remember, do you? Unsurprising, really, your state was no better than poor Naruto’s. You should show a bit of gratitude, little brother. You both would have surely succumbed to madness if I hadn’t intervened.” 

Sasuke frowned. His memories of going into heat and the preceding twenty-four hours were fragmented or altogether non-existent. The last thing he could remember clearly was coming across Naruto in their clearing, the very same they’d romped in as tots and adolescents. He was sunbathing, and Sasuke had felt such immeasurable need at the sight of him. That was the extent of the memory. His next moment of clarity was being pinned under his brother, Itachi striking a semblance of sanity in him before allowing him into the hut where Naruto slumbered and reeked of his own heat. “What happened?” 

Itachi looked contemplative and cast his gaze skyward, clearly exaggerating to get under his sibling’s skin. “I’m not normally one to admit as much, but even I am not privy to all the details. As I’m sure you were aware, your heat was set to begin any one of these coming days, but true to your foolish nature, you were neither cautious or prepared. It set upon you while you were with Naruto, and I can only assume you intended to mate with him in your delirious state. I understand his heat was not to come for several weeks, but your’s triggered his prematurely. I cannot say how or why, but even in heat, he ran from you. Naturally, you pursued him. He managed to slip you, and that’s how I came upon you, uprooting the forest in a blind rage.” Itachi huffed, openly amused. Sasuke’s frown deepened.

“He ran from me...? Why?”

Jiraiya sighed, and retook his seat on the partition. He hummed thoughtfully. “It isn’t my place to say, and Naruto will surely have words with me about it later, but he’s been...completely smitten with you for sometime, even before you both experienced the changes in your nature. But since then, even more so. I cannot think of a single reason he would have fled from you, especially when his own heat had such a strong hold over him. To overcome his own instincts as he did...” He shook his head, but was still relieved the dilemma had been somewhat resolved and his charge’s health was on the mend.

Sasuke scowled. Naruto ran from him, even when they were both in heat. Why? Did he truly not wish for Sasuke as his mate? Was there...someone else? He growled loudly at the thought, unable to bite back the noise. No, no one else, Naruto was his and he would gleefully slaughter anyone foolish enough to stake a claim. Gamakichi spoke for the first time since Sasuke’s arrival. “Sasuke, I don’t feel I’m at liberty to say or make claims on Naruto’s behalf, but please...try not to jump to conclusions. Naruto had his reasons, and though they were misguided, you should speak with him about it. He will explain himself to you, and you will have a chance to calm his worries and doubts.” 

Sasuke considered him. Naruto and Gamakichi had always been close, and there was a good chance he’d confided in the toad about emotional affairs he hadn’t mentioned to even Sasuke, which still rubbed him the wrong way. After another moment, he nodded. 

“You plan to hunt then?” Itachi asked knowingly. Sasuke didn’t deign to answer, simply hummed and reverted into his animal form. Again, he circled the perimeter in a low crouch, scenting the air for any nearby prey. His tail swung behind him in lazy swipes, and he flexed and stretched his muscles with every deliberate step. A low growl set forth from his chest, and he set sharingan bright eyes on the small entourage near the fountain’s edge. He made meaningful eye contact with his brother, who’s own eyes kept their black pitch. He was grateful to Itachi, but couldn’t resist the urge to flood the area with alpha pheromones. He was still an alpha in heat, and his new mate was still vulnerable and alone less than a kilometer’s distance from them. 

With that, he departed for the nearest wooded area. He took to the high branches and leapt from perch to perch, scenting the air all the while for easy prey. His blood rushed and sang with excitement, as the hunt took on a whole new meaning to him. Hunting in general was thrilling and stoked his inner animal to the surface, but he wasn’t hunting only for himself, he was hunting for Naruto, who was in a precarious state and relying on him to provide. His breath came in hot puffs. He trembled at the thought of presenting his mate with the felled carcass of a big game animal, and was determined not to return with anything smaller than a matured buck. He leapt to the ground below, and snuffled at a disturbed patch of dirt. There were large, hooven tracks, and he caught the scent of boar. The hunt was on. 

Some kilometers away, back in their shared hut, Naruto woke alone. He was hot, sore, and confused, but felt better than he had in two days. Gingerly, he hauled himself to a sitting position. His memories of the past few hours were fuzzy, but there. A flush zapped him from head to toe, as he remembered what transpired between him and Sasuke. His friend, now mate -- Naruto felt his ears flatten against his skull in sheer embarrassment -- had come for him, and claimed him in his time of need. How did Sasuke find him? He thought he’d put enough distance between them to avoid a purely instinctual mating, one Sasuke would surely regret. Where was he? Now that a bit of his sanity was restored, did he realize what a huge mistake he’d made by completing a mating bond with Naruto? Was he rejecting their bond, one made in the literal heat of the moment? Naruto’s heart broke in two, as he knew that was the likely answer. 

He took stock of himself, and felt a shock of arousal as he noticed the puddle of slick and cum he sat in. Even now, it still trickled out of him. He reached a hand between his legs, and touched himself there. He was still extremely loose and wet, and knew it would be that way for some time. If Sasuke didn’t come back, Naruto felt he was at least in a state of mind where he could see himself through the rest of his heat. As far as their bond, Naruto knew little about it. If Sasuke was going to reject their bond, what would happen to them? Was it possible to reverse an unwanted bond? All the stories he’d heard of similar situations usually ended poorly for at least one party, typically the omega. Alphas could mate multiple times in their life if the need arose, though it was a rarity. Omegas, however, would retain their mating bite until they died, and no one wanted an omega who bore the ritual bite of another. 

Naruto swallowed, feeling fear and dread at what his future might hold. If the bond was rejected, he could possibly die. Some omegas suffer adverse health if their bond is denied or ignored by the one to place it, and pass away from pure heartbreak. He heaved a deep, nervous breath. He didn’t know where Sasuke was, and jumping to conclusions was only going to send him into the clutches of an anxiety attack. At the very least, Sasuke might return to at least make his intentions clear, whether those be to reject the bond or otherwise. Naruto forced himself onto shaky legs. He decided a bath might soothe him, and frankly, he felt disgusting. The primal part of him relished in being soiled by Sasuke’s essence, but the rest of him knew just how sticky and gross it really was. There was a secluded hot spring not far from Jiraiya’s dwelling, and Naruto set out with that destination in mind. He shifted into his fox form to make the journey a quick one. 

He was also starving, so maybe he’d catch a rabbit or two on the way. It was a short trip, and he could find no small game on the way, so he decided a meal could wait until he’d at least cleaned himself of the copious fluids from their mating. The natural hot spring was one he visited often. It was small, enough to accommodate maybe four people at a time, and surrounded by natural rock formations and tall, lush trees. Not bothering to shift, Naruto leapt into the water. It was hot enough to have steam licking at its surface and rising into the air, thin and wispy. Naruto’s head broke the surface, and he relished in the feeling of the grime washing out of his fur. He doggy-paddled in circles, and yipped his happiness for the nearby forest dwellers to hear. He felt carefree for the first time in a long time. 

Finally, he shifted into his human form and set to work cleaning himself. As he ran his hands over the planes of his stomach and neck, memories of his mating with Sasuke flooded him. He couldn’t help but pretend Sasuke was the one touching him, bathing him. He flushed to his roots at the memory of Sasuke slamming their bodies together and bending him to his will, and slick gushed from him anew at the thought of being impaled and filled up by the object of his affections. Naruto shuddered, and was grateful to be submerged in water. Like they possessed a mind all their own, his hand snaked between his legs again. He was hard, and his hole was lax and wanton. Humiliation lanced through him, but he was still in heat and his biological urges easily overcame his shame. He pushed three fingers into himself, remembering how Sasuke had done the same. 

Sasuke was much better at it than he was, and the position of it was awkward, but it relieved him to feel a shadow of that former fullness. He burned for more, more than he could ever give himself, but beggars can’t be choosers. He pumped his fingers inside himself, slowly at first, but soon with more urgency. He fisted his weeping cock with his other hand. He mewled loudly, wishing on every cloud and star in the heavens that Sasuke was here. He wanted, no -- needed, his body to be at the mercy of his mate, fucked out and contorted to whatever will Sasuke set on him. He released himself in favor of mapping out the mating mark that had already scarred over on his throat. It was a circular pucker and felt like a starburst beneath his fingertips. He remembered the feeling of Sasuke yoking his head off the floor and sinking teeth gum-deep into him, it was actually the last thing he remembered and was more than enough to spur on another orgasm. “Nngh, a-ah, S-Sasuke!”

“Is that his name?” 

Naruto choked, and his eyes snapped open from where they’d slipped shut. He ripped his fingers out of himself and pushed against the closest rock at his back. A man he didn’t know or recognize stood at the edge of the water. He was an alpha, and just as naked as Naruto was. He must have been in full shift mere moments before. His stature was impressive, he was just as tall and broad as Sasuke. His pheromones permeated the air and made Naruto lightheaded. He did bear Sasuke’s mark, but he wasn’t totally immune to an alpha creature’s aura when they weaponized it against him as this man was doing now. He was still in heat, he was still vulnerable, and Naruto was hyper aware of that. Gritting his teeth, he knew he needed to run. Naruto hated running away, even against an alpha who clearly outmatched him, but he would be too easy to manipulate in this state. As he did with Sasuke before, Naturo used fox magic to create a diversion. He conjured an illusion of several versions of himself, all of them female and voluptuous. They cooed and laughed, bidding for the man’s attention. 

In his brief second of distraction, Naruto slipped into the underbrush. He shifted into his fox form again, as he was much faster on four legs. He heard twigs and branches snapping scant feet behind him, and his heart raced enough for him to feel it behind his eyes. He was absolutely terrified; this stranger’s intentions were not lost on him. He saw a break in the trees and felt a shock of relief. The hovel he shared with Jiraiya should be in the clearing beyond, and he should be safe there. With renewed vigor, he pushed himself harder, until the brush parted around him. His head whipped about, fully expecting to see the hut he’d left barely an hour before, but there was nothing. It was a clearing he didn’t recognize. His heart jumped into his mouth and dread froze the blood in his veins. He went the wrong way! He was tackled from behind and pinned to the dirt by a much larger beast than he. 

His scruff was snagged in a mighty jaw, and a powerful growl shook through him. He was forced to shift back into his human form, unable to refuse the nonverbal command, and the man above him did the same. Naruto struggled in his vice-like grip. “Get off me!” He screamed. 

“That was a cute trick.” The alpha snarled into the back of his neck, where his mouth still hovered. “Even sweeter, that you thought I’d let you get away again.” 

Naruto stilled. Again? Who the hell was this guy? “What are you talking about?! Get the fuck off me!” He raged, squirming fitfully under the unyielding body keeping him flattened. 

“Oh, you don’t remember, then. That hurts my feelings. Perhaps I should refresh you a bit.” He grabbed the underside of Naruto’s knee and hiked his leg up to his armpit. He pressed his length, achingly hard, between the cheeks of his ass and ground himself into the silky wetness there. Naruto keened, fighting with all his strength not to arch his back into it. He wouldn’t give this asshole the satisfaction, not in a million years. “Do you remember now? That mark you’re wearing, it was almost mine.” He hissed venomously. “I see someone got to you first. But, allow me to share something with you.” He sounded gleeful and it had a spike of fear piercing his heart. 

“You’re still in the thick of heat, I’m guessing your first, and this mark is so fresh.” He chuckled, rubbing himself against Naruto’s most vulnerable place. “If I fuck my knot into you right now, and place my own claiming bite right on top of this one...it’ll disappear, like it was never even there. And I’ll make sure to wipe his name right out of your sweet mouth.” 

Naruto couldn’t breathe. He froze up, and horror swept through him. “No...” He said, a whisper at first. Then, again, as a deafening scream. “No! I won’t let you! I won’t - !” 

“What are you going to do to stop me, kit? Even now, your body is reacting to mine. My cock is covered in your slick, you’re desperate for a knot - any knot - to keep you full. Your mate is nowhere to be found, and I’m more than happy to fill in.” Naruto could hear the malicious grin in his voice, and it was making him sick. He’d never felt more powerless in his life, and he’d never hated his omega status more than he did now. He didn’t want to live as a victim, needing to be rescued from every difficult situation that arose. This was his exact fear he’d been trying to explain to Sasuke two days ago, on the riverbank. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, and he squeezed them shut. They rushed down his cheeks and wet the dirt. 

“Don’t cry, we haven’t even started yet.” He growled, and Naruto felt him withdraw his hips just slightly. Naruto grit his teeth and made one last ditch effort at breaking the hold over him. His efforts got him nothing but to have his face smothered in the dirt, a hand fisted in his golden mane. “Nngh, please...don’t...” He begged weakly. 

“Save your begging for - gah!” The weight was suddenly lifted from his back. Naruto laid there, unsure what to do or think. He didn’t finish his sentence, it sounded almost like he was choking, but there was also a sickly squelching that Naruto couldn’t place. Then, he felt something wet. It splashed his back and into his hair. It dripped down his face, and his eyes grew wide. Blood...? Slowly, Naruto turned onto his back to see what became of his assailant. The scene to greet him was an unbelievably gruesome one. The unidentified alpha still hovered over him, but far enough that there was no more contact between them. He rested on the tips of his toes, held up by a hand ripped completely through his chest cavity. That hand held the alpha’s still beating heart in its palm. Sasuke stood behind him, and killing intent rolled off him in Tsunami-like waves; Naruto couldn’t believe he was only just sensing it, as it was enough to knock a lesser man off his feet. The disembodied heart was still pumping, though weaker by the second. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto, and squeezed the organ to red paste in his hand. 

It burst like a water balloon, and bits of it landed on Naruto’s chest and face. He yanked his hand free of the man’s chest, leaving a gaping hole behind. He was already dead, but Sasuke wasn’t done. He placed one hand on the man's shoulder, and the other on the side of his neck. With little fanfare, no dramatic roar or declaration, only the pure glee Naruto could see shining in the red of his eyes, he proceeded to rip the alpha's head from his body. He made it look easy. Naruto watched, eyes huge on his face and mouth trembling. He was terrified, disgusted, and more aroused than he'd ever been in his entire life. Sasuke threw the headless, heartless body aside like it were a sack of garbage, and dropped the lifeless head on the ground in front of his feet. He looked down on it like a vengeful God might peer down on his creation betwixt the clouds; unfathomably pleased to see their suffering, and even more so to be the cause of it. He raised his leg, and with unassuming force, crushed the dismembered head into unsightly mush beneath his naked sole. Naruto hitched a terrified breath, that turned into a high whine. The snap and crunch of his skull caving in turned Naruto's stomach, and he looked away. 

He'd seen Sasuke kill before, but only animals. Naruto had killed plenty of animals himself, as hunting for sustenance and play was part of their nature, but he'd never seen a person die from causes that weren't natural. He'd never seen someone's heart ripped out, or head ripped off and subsequently crushed. He was frightened, and with good reason, but he was also extremely aroused. Sasuke had demonstrated his dominance, his competency as a protector and mate, in one of the most savage displays Naruto could imagine. A rival alpha was trying to lay claim to him against his will, to erase Sasuke's ritual bite from his skin, and Sasuke had slaughtered him in cold blood. He'd literally crushed the alpha's cranium into pulp at Naruto's feet. Even with the gore soiling him and the stomach-churning spectacle barely a foot from where he lay, Naruto felt...safe. Sasuke made him feel safe. 

His aura was saturating the air around them, and it felt like an invisible weight pressing on his chest. It was hard to breathe, and Naruto took air in sharp, painful gasps. Sasuke stood over him, looking down on him, and Naruto could tell he was scant seconds from losing control of himself to his beast. His fingers twitched at his side, and blood dripped from his claws one steady bead at a time, seeping into the dirt. His chest rose with strong, even breaths, but Naruto could feel it, could feel him -- he wanted to kill, destroy, decimate. He wanted to hunt down every alpha this side of the mountain and tear them apart. Naruto whimpered, as his omega demanded him to submit fully in his mate’s domineering presence. He was mortified to feel slick gush from him anew. He pressed his legs together, trying to stifle the burn in his belly. Sasuke could smell him, and reacted strongly. He growled, baring his teeth, and it was thunder in Naruto’s ears. 

Clenching his eyes shut, he parted his legs and turned his head, baring his throat and the mark there. Assuaged, Sasuke’s growl dissolved into a pleased purr. He dropped to his knees, and placed himself as a protective cage atop Naruto, scenting him from head to toe for physical damage. Naruto let him do as he wished, knowing Sasuke needed to assure his senses of his mate’s good health. The other alpha’s scent mingled strongly with his own, which stirred a deep darkness in Sasuke, but he tolerated it for the moment, as he’d already reduced said alpha to an unrecognizable corpse. Before Naruto understood his mate’s intentions, Sasuke’s face was buried between his legs. Naruto almost shot completely off the ground, but Sasuke kept him in place with a firm grip on his hips. Sasuke’s mouth worked at his gape like a starving man might choke down a three-course meal, like he were the appetizer, entree, and dessert and he’d never taste anything as good as that. 

His tongue sought purchase inside Naruto, swirling against his walls and dragging out mouthfuls of slick which he swallowed greedily. “Sas-oh, nngh! What are...!” Naruto couldn’t form a proper thought, much less a full sentence. Naruto found himself bent in half, as Sasuke mouthed at him desperately. It wasn’t the fullness his body craved, but it was different and new and mind-shattering. He threw his head back, his skull cracking on the ground. If Sasuke kept it up, he would come apart and paint them both white. Sasuke must have sensed as much, as he snarled against Naruto’s perineum and worked his mouth and tongue harder to reach that desired end. Naruto arched and jerked wildly, as his orgasm washed over him and sent his brain into flat-line and his vision into white-out. 

Sasuke pulled back just enough to watch it happen. He was filled with possessive pride at the sight of his mate, wet with the bloody matter of a rival, writhing in orgasmic pleasure from his hands and his mouth. He alone would be the one to make Naruto feel these things, to drag sounds of euphoria from his soft palette and have his body twisting apart. Once Naruto had come down from his high and was panting, utterly spent, Sasuke gathered him to his chest. He sneered down at the carcass of the nameless alpha, and carried his mate back towards the spring. Naruto had his face buried in the dip of his pectorals and was scenting him, seeking feelings of calm and safety. They were high on instinct and endorphins, and it stayed with them until they sunk beneath the water, still and hot. Sasuke sat on the natural stone seat the spring offered, and kept Naruto in his lap. He nuzzled the mating mark he'd placed only a few hours before. "Idiot. Was the need for a bath so pressing, you couldn't wait for me to come back?" He huffed.

Naruto stilled, and was obviously uncomfortable. "Uh, I guess...not?" He offered awkwardly. Sasuke frowned, and pulled back to force eye contact between them. "Tell me." 

In a classic move for the kit, one Sasuke had seen many times, Naruto tucked a hand behind his neck and grinned sheepishly. Though, more than in past times he'd done so, Sasuke could tell he was still extremely uncomfortable and didn't want to be having this conversation. "I mean, I didn't really know if you were coming back, you know?" 

Sasuke looked at him blankly. "What?"

"I mean!" Naruto flailed in his lap, accidentally creating friction between their lower bodies. Sasuke reigned in his more unsavory desires; this was clearly a conversation they needed to have. "I, well...I didn't know if you were trying to mate with me because...I just happened to be there, next to you, when you went into heat. You're an alpha, I'm an omega. Our biology is compatible. I didn't want you to...be stuck with me." He bit his lip, almost drawing blood from it. "If...if you don't want this, it's...I mean, if you don't want me to be - I get it, you know?" He laughed weakly, but his heart was splintering in the sound.

"Enough." Sasuke grit out. "You really think, after everything, I don't want you?" 

"I...yeah? Maybe? I don't know! We're in heat, so, I figured...maybe it was just that? I know you didn't plan on mating with me, and you'd probably be mated to some other omega your parents picked out for you if you'd gone into heat at home." 

Sasuke sighed. "At one time, I thought something similar. I thought, despite my personal feelings on the matter, I’d be content with whomever my father chose for me. I know now, that never would’ve happened. Even if I’d entered into heat in the safety of my home, or happened to be close to another omega -- whether I knew them or not, my beast would not have recognized them as mine. I should have realized as much beforehand, and I should have taken the time to discuss it with you. Perhaps we wouldn’t have been in this dilemma, and you wouldn’t have run from me.” 

If Naruto was anything, he was hard-headed and more than a little oblivious. “What are you talking about? Why not? Discuss what with me?” He flapped his arms like a child and splashed them both. Sasuke shook his head ruefully. “Naruto, you damned idiot. You are mine, and I’m yours. You, and you alone, have my heart, and you’re the only one my beast will recognize as a mate. When you ran from me, I would have turned this world upside down to get to you. Are you that damn dense, dobe?” 

Naruto sputtered and took on the coloring of a ripe tomato, like the ones Sasuke would sneak from his mother’s garden. “Ah...really? You - you’re such a bastard! Why didn’t you say anything before?” He tugged at his hair dramatically. Sasuke had the decency to look chastened. “Does it matter now?” He nuzzled the ritual mark at the base of his throat, dragging his teeth up that tan tract of skin. He lifted Naruto from his seat in his lap, just enough to lower him back down onto the full length of his cock. It was a smooth, slow entry that took Naruto completely by surprise and had his head tossed and mouth dropped beautifully. “Huhng! You - !” Sasuke swallowed up his curses, as he slammed their mouths together in a passionate meeting of lip and tongue. He delivered a powerful upwards thrust into Naruto’s eager body, and twined their tongues together, allowing him to taste the memory of his own slick. 

Sasuke fucked into him with vigor, and feeling more clear-headed and confident, Naruto bounced into every thrust and ground himself into Sasuke’s lap. It took mere minutes for his second knot to swell up, locking them together while Sasuke unleashed a flood into that tight, clenching heat. Naruto responded as he should, coming undone several times over and shaking like a leaf. Sasuke held him to his chest as they rode out their individual waves. It felt like connection, belonging, and happiness in the purest sense. Naruto rested his forehead on Sasuke’s shoulder and struggled to catch a breath. “Fuck...are you...are we...?”

“Yes, idiot, you’re stuck on my knot.”

“Ah, man, how long does it last?” 

“Get comfortable.” 

\-- end --


End file.
